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Bampot

Kitchen worktop stone ‘must be banned to stop deaths’ after safety alert (www.msn.com)

submitted 1 week ago by Bampot to c/dangerdust

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MPs and campaigners are demanding tougher measures to protect young tradespeople after the UK’s health and safety watchdog issued a major safety alert about a popular kitchen worktop material.

It the first official guidance for engineered stone, which has been linked to a new aggressive form of the deadly lung disease silicosis, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) warns employers they must prevent workers from breathing in toxic silica dust.

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[–] Bampot 2 points 1 week ago

Granite is a natural material whereas engineered stone is a man made manufactured material :

Granite is a plutonic rock that is composed of between 10 to 50% quartz (typically semi-transparent white) and 65 to 90% total feldspar (typically a pinkish or white hue). Granite is an intrusive igneous rock, which means it was formed in place during the cooling of molten rock.

Engineered stone silicosis

Engineered stone silicosis is an emerging disease in many countries worldwide produced by the inhalation of respirable dust of engineered stone. This silicosis has a high incidence among young workers, with a short latency period and greater aggressiveness than silicosis caused by natural materials.

Although the silica content is very high and this is the key factor, it has been postulated that other constituents in engineered stones can influence the aggressiveness of the disease. Different samples of engineered stone countertops (fabricated by workers during the years prior to their diagnoses), as well as seven lung samples from exposed patients, were analyzed by multiple techniques.

Some of the volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and metals detected in the studied countertop samples have been described as causative of lung inflammation and respiratory disease.

Among inorganic constituents, aluminum has been a relevant component within the silicotic nodule, reaching atomic concentrations even higher than silicon in some cases.

Such concentrations, both for silicon and aluminum showed a decreasing tendency from the center of the nodule towards its frontier.

In the analysis of the lung samples, the presence of silicon, iron, aluminum and titanium in the granulomas was confirmed. Aluminum, in particular, was distributed in a relatively high concentration in granulomatous lesions.

One of the elements systematically detected in all samples was tungsten.

This has not been reported for any previous series, and we cannot rule out that the procedure used by us to obtain the dust samples could have led to tungsten contamination (steel bits with tungsten carbide tips).

The addition of elements contributing to Engineered Stone dust has been verified by other authors who used similar tools in the processing of the material; the results can also differ based on dry or wet processing

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8607701/